Archive for category Biogas

Landfill Biogas Fully Powers Monterrey’s City Lights

Posted by Mila Luleva in Biogas on March 4, 2013

A great example of how biogas can be successfully converted to electricity and power the lights of an entire city, is given by the Mexican metropolitan Monterrey. Year 2001 was commemorated in Monterrey‘s history by the launch of the first ever waste-to-energy project in Latin America. Since then, the equivalent of around 1 million tons [...]

Bio-Oil Hydrogen Generation Just Needed a More Efficient Process

Posted by Benji Jerew in Biogas, Hydrogen Power on February 15, 2013

We’ve been watching hydrogen fuel for a while now, and the utilization of hydrogen has seen fairly rapid development, as seen in the decreasing size of fuel cell stacks and increasing efficiency. In fact, by 2015, Toyota, BMW, and others are planning on having at least one hydrogen fuel cell model in production. Of course, [...]

How to Build an Electricity-Producing Peltier Gasifier

Posted by Mila Luleva in Biogas, How to..., Thermoelectric on February 13, 2013

A gasifier works by decomposing organic matter in an oxygen-free environment at high temperatures and then burning the hydrogen that results from that decomposition. It is a smokeless, much cleaner way of providing electricity and/or heat without particle emissions and soot. The so-called “Fusion Jr.” Home Energy Reactor has an amazing potential to generate energy [...]

Audi’s Synthetic Fuel Produced With Solar and Wind Power

Posted by Benji Jerew in Biogas, Solar Power, Wind Power on January 25, 2013

Audi is set to release a number of natural-gas [NG] powered vehicles this year, such as the Audi A3 Sportback TCNG. It can run on petroleum-sourced NG, which is abundant, but is also a carbon-positive fuel. In order to make these vehicles greener, a carbon-neutral fuel would be even better. To that end, Audi is [...]

Some Like it Harsh: More Biofuel from Willow Trees When “Mistreated”

Posted by Leigh Kim in Biogas, Energy news, Green News on January 22, 2013

British researchers have observed that willow trees typically used for green energy actually produce more than five times more biofuel if they grow diagonally, as opposed to those that typically grow vertically towards the sky. The study, detailed in Biotechnology for Biofuels, addresses the discovery that some trees have a genetic trait that produces this [...]

Was it Fraud? How Biofuels Company “Earned” Millions from EPA Loophole

Posted by Benji Jerew in Biodiesel, Biogas, Green Policy on January 2, 2013

In June 2010, a CN Rail cargo train crossed the US / Canada border 24 times, earning some $2.6 million in transportation revenue. This statement, in itself, is probably not newsworthy, as cargo trains transport some 1.8 trillion tons of freight each year throughout North America. However, when you consider the cargo, which included tankers [...]

University of Texas Doubles Electricity Output of Landfill

Posted by Benji Jerew in Biogas on December 21, 2012

Landfills are not just an eyesore, but also produce methane as their contents decompose. Methane [CH4] is a greenhouse gas, and if not recovered, could accelerate climate change. On the other hand, recovered methane makes a great fuel, which can be used to generate electricity for the very residents and businesses contributing to the landfill. [...]

Princeton University Study Claims Synfuels Could Eliminate US Petroleum Needs

Posted by Benji Jerew in Biodiesel, Biogas, Green News on December 6, 2012

One of the goals of some synfuel programs is, not only to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions, but to reduce our dependency on foreign petroleum imports. This is also the main reason that vehicles are becoming more fuel efficient than ever, especially since the 1970s OPEC Oil Embargo, when US consumers and the government realized how vulnerable [...]

Apple’s Data Center and the Clean Energy Paradox

Posted by Leigh Kim in Biogas, Energy news, Solar Power on December 6, 2012

According to the North Carolina Utility Commission, Apple intends to double the amount of fuel cells it will use at its data center in Maiden, North Carolina. In November, Apple filed to increase its fuel cell size but kept the endeavor completely confidential. Bloom Energy is installing 50 Bloom boxes for Apple to produce 10 [...]

Photobioreactor Will Provide Cheap and Efficient Energy Storage

Posted by Mila Luleva in Biogas, Energy Storage on December 2, 2012

Algae-based biofuel research was granted $910,000 to develop a bioreactor that will deliver light and collect fuel. The winning team from Cornell University consists of David Erickson, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and Largus Angenent, associate professor of biological and environmental engineering. The generous sponsors are the US Department of Energy (DOE), who [...]

Nobel Laureate and Photosynthesis Expert Hartmut Michel Says Biofuels Provide No Value

Posted by Leigh Kim in Biodiesel, Biogas on November 28, 2012

Nobel Laureate and current director of the Molecular Membrane Biology department at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics, Dr. Hartmut Michel is best known for his research on photosynthesis. He is one of the foremost experts in the world on how plants turn sunlight into energy. Armed with his vast knowledge, Dr. Michel has some [...]

Green Alga Digests Cellulose, Improves Bioenergy Production

Posted by Mila Luleva in Biodiesel, Biogas on November 21, 2012

Research team at Bielefeld University, led by Professor Dr. Olaf Kruse, has discovered a plant, which receives its energy not only via photosynthesis, but also it can extract it from other plants. The ground-breaking findings for the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were published online in the journal Nature. The findings contradict current beliefs that only certain types [...]

Microsoft Testing Biogas Fuel Cell for Future Sustainable Data Centers

Posted by Benji Jerew in Biogas, Hydrogen Power on November 20, 2012

Well-known software company, Microsoft, in its efforts toward sustainable data centers, has teamed up with Danbury Connecticut’s FuelCell Energy to test a combination of energy technologies. “With the demand for renewable energy resources outstripping available power supplies today, Microsoft is researching new methods to help our operations become more efficient and environmentally sustainable,” said Gregg [...]

Iowa State University Grad Student Innovates on Biofuel Technology

Posted by Leigh Kim in Biodiesel, Biogas on November 6, 2012

An Iowa State University mechanical engineering graduate research assistant is working to change the future of biofuel technology. The graduate student, Nicholas Creager, prototyped a gasifer, combining elements from both gasification and fast pyrolysis to produce transportation fuels. The gasifer is a complicated two-step process, and Creager and his colleagues are busy focusing on the [...]

Algae into Biocrude – The Quick Method

Posted by Benji Jerew in Biodiesel, Biogas on November 1, 2012

Crude oil reserves around the world were formed millions of years ago as ancient microorganisms, such as algae and plankton, died and sank to the sea floor. Under extreme heat and compression due to sedimentary rock formation, the ancient biomass slowly decomposed anaerobically, resulting in deposits of crude petroleum buried in the strata. Biofuels researchers [...]